At a press conference held on Tuesday, February 5, 2008, Lt. Governor Francis joined Governor John P. DeJongh, Jr. to present revised legislation for real property tax.  Governor deJongh has called the 27th Legislature into special session on Thursday, February 7 to consider the legislation.  The proposal, which was crafted by the deJongh/Francis team, the Office of the Tax Assessor and consultants from Bearing Point, does the following:

• reduces the average tax in land, residential and commercial categories;
• implements a “circuit-breaker” provision that limits the impact of increased taxes on homeowners whose revaluation from 1998 numbers to current actual value increases by more than 125 percent by granting a tax credit; equal to 40 percent of the increase;
  
• increases exemption rates; and
  
• adjusts the level of qualifying income for those to whom the circuit breaker  provision applies.
  

The revised bill also asks the Legislature to authorize a time-limited real property tax amnesty on penalties and interests for years before 2005.

Pursuant to a 2003 Court Order, the Virgin Islands Tax Assessor and the Virgin Islands Government have been barred from assessing real property “until the property tax system is certified as reliably and credibly assessing and taxing all real property at its actual value”  Since 2003, the Government  has issued property tax bills at the 1998 assessment levels.  The bills have not reflected the legally required actual value.    The new valuations done by Bearing Point Consultants reflect actual value.

Taxpayers throughout the territory, particularly on the island of St. John, have questioned the revaluations of their property and raised concerns that the tax burden may be too high. Governor deJongh says the new proposal takes St. John concerns into mind, but the bebefits are territory-wide.

Lt. Governor Francis says the administration does not intend to put the burden on the taxpayers.   He points to increased exemptions and the circuit breaker provision as evidence that the administration is seeking to be fair to the people. 

During the press conference, Governor deJongh further noted that the revenue projections have been revised to reflect the one year of property tax that will be billed this year.  Under the original proposal, property owners would have received two bills during the year.  

Tax Assessor Roy Martin was also present at the press conference to answer questions regarding the Property Tax Revaluation process.

*Click here to view the Real Property Tax Proposal Presention